I am a Linux newbie trying to learn my way around. I am well versed in Windows and DOS, and have a very basic understanding of Linux.

I am currently running a file sharing network, with a Windows 2000 PC as my main file server. I have tons of storage space on it, and have it configured with a static IP address. I also have a newly installed Fedora Core 4 Linux PC that I want to set up for file sharing (and hopefully eventually a domain controller for my Windows PC’s). I also have a few other Windows XP and Windows 2k PC’s set up for dynamic IP addresses.

I have a Linksys router that is handling DHCP assignments, and I currently do not have an internet connection set up on that network. I only use a dial up connection through my XP home PC.

I attempted to set up the Samba server on my Linux box, and thought I had it done correctly. For a while I was able to see my Linux computer using NET VIEW on my Windows 2k PC, but I was never able to access the public share I set up. I also found that since trying to set this up, the Linux PC is now disrupting the network environment for my other Windows PC's. Browsing the network takes a long time and sometimes I get an error in Windows 2k telling me that the network environment is not available. When I shut down the Linux PC, my windows network returns to normal. I may have inadvertently screwed something up, but I don’t know enough about Linux or Samba to know what to do next. I also think my Linux PC is not using the DHCP services from my router, but I can’t be sure.

I would greatly appreciate any assistance that can be provided. I am also interested in learning command line methods for performing these tasks, mainly because those seem to be more uniform between Linux distributions than the GUI interfaces.

i'm just wondering why you set up samba on this linux client when you already have a file server?? it would be better to use "smbclient" to connect the windows file server. also there is a good utility called 'smb4k' for kde.

however, if you want a samba server, post your "smb.conf" and we can take a look at it.

as far as networking goes. it must be working on dhcp if you haven't set up any config. which distro are you using?

try 'ifconfig -a'

maybe try 'ps -ef|grep -i dhcp'.

One of the main reasons for wanting to set up a Samba server is to learn how. I love the idea of Linux as a viable alternative to Windows, and free too. I really want to learn more about Linux, especially networking and server operations, such as domain servers, ftp and http. To do that in Windows, you need to buy a Windows server program or other 3rd party software, but Linux comes with all that stuff built in. I have learned a lot from Windows networking, but without a domain controller, I have gone about as far as I can with that...

Ok, here is the stuff you requested… It does appear to be getting the correct IP from my DHCP server based on the ifconfig output.



[wolf@fedora samba]$ /sbin/ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:10:B5:A3:BA:AE
inet addr:192.168.1.102 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::210:b5ff:fea3:baae/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:38 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:73 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:6840 (6.6 KiB) TX bytes:10017 (9.7 KiB)
Interrupt:5 Base address:0x1000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:1882 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1882 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1922238 (1.8 MiB) TX bytes:1922238 (1.8 MiB)

sit0 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
NOARP MTU:1480 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

[wolf@fedora samba]$



smb.conf file – I have a pre-started one that came with my Fedora, so in the interest of space, I cut out most of the # and ; comment lines. The share I created is "public" for now. I figured if I can get that to work, then I will worry about private shares later. (I want to work my way up to a domain server environment eventually.)


[global]

workgroup = wolfnet
server string = Fedora Samba Server
security = share
guest ok = yes

# Most people will find that this option gives better performance.
# See speed.txt and the manual pages for details
socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
# I tried commenting out this line but it seemed to have no effect either way.

[PUBLIC]
path = /home/samba/shares/public/
writeable = yes
; guest account = nobody
case sensitive = no
; msdfs proxy = no
browseable = yes
guest ok = yes



Here is the output from the ps command you suggested... I think this has gone a bit over my head; I am not really sure what this is telling me...

[wolf@fedora samba]$ ps -ef|grep -i dhcp
root 1234 1 0 19:37 ? 00:00:00 /sbin/dhclient -1 -q -cf /etc/dh client-eth0.conf -lf /var/lib/dhcp/dhclient-eth0.leases -pf /var/run/dhclient-et h0.pid eth0
root 1662 1 0 19:37 ? 00:00:00 /sbin/dhclient -1 -q -cf /etc/dh client-eth0.conf -lf /var/lib/dhcp/dhclient-eth0.leases -pf /var/run/dhclient-et h0.pid eth0
wolf 2984 2672 0 19:47 pts/2 00:00:00 grep -i dhcp
[wolf@fedora samba]$

right it tells you that the hdcp client daemon is working - your network card has been configured.

are you sure the smb daemon is running?

try the command 'smbstatus'.


if not try "ps -ef|grep -i smb"

the smb.conf files seems okay for a basic share...

Thanks for the tips... Here is the output from the smbstatus command.

[wolf@fedora ~]$ smbstatus

Samba version 3.0.14a-2
PID Username Group Machine
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Service pid machine Connected at
-------------------------------------------------------

No locked files

[wolf@fedora ~]$

I was going to ask if this meant that it was working, but I had a breakthrough today and answered that on my own... I am definitely a Linux newbie, but I have been doing as much poking around as I can. (and reading too... ) I found a setting for a firewall, which I did not even know I had. I turned it off, and TADA! I have access to my public share on my Fedora PC! Thank you so much for the help... I think the firewall on Linux must have been what was disturbing my Windows file sharing network. Everything seems to work just fine now!
Now that I have a public share, the next step is to set up user specific shares. I would like to set this machine up to be a domain controller for my Windows PC's. Any advice on that? I don't even know where to start. I am also not sure if it would be better to set up user specific shares first, or if I should jump right into working on a domain controller...

Does Fedora 4 have a DHCP server in it? I have another PC I plan to load Fedora on, which is connected to a hub, but not a router.

I know I am kind of jumping around here, but as before, any help will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

cool. well done on solving ur problem.

there are plenty of how-to's out there.

search google for a 'howto' on samba. i believe the samba website has an explaination of how to set up a pdc:

www.samba.org